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Wednesday, 21 August 2013

This film is a knockout

Other directors and documentary makers have
tried to tell Muhammad Ali's story, but Bill Siegel succeeds in
depicting Ali's journey of rebellion against racism and war.

August 21, 2013

I COULDN'T stand the Michael Mann film Ali
starring Will Smith. The problem was not the script, the cinematography
or the pacing. The problem was Will Smith. This is no knock against Mr.
Smith. The film's great flaw is the fact that no one can really play
Muhammad Ali except for Muhammad Ali. It feels self-evident to write,
but Hollywood, even with all its magic, is incapable of recreating the
charisma, physical grace or tragic glory of the Champ.
That is why Muhammad Ali has always been served better by
documentaries than dramatic films. Even when Ali played himself in the
1977 film The Greatest, it was a disaster precisely because the
wicked improvisation that marked both his style of speech and boxing
were thuddingly absent.
That is also why, for my money, some of the best sports documentaries have Ali as their central focus. When We Were Kings or Muhammad Ali: Through the Eyes of the World are classics and belong on the shortlist of the best sports docs ever made.
I write all this so it's understood that when I say The Trials of Muhammad Ali
is the best documentary ever made about the most famous draft resister
in human history, you know that I choose those words with extreme care.
What makes The Trials of Muhammad Ali, by Academy Award-nominated director Bill Siegel (The Weather Underground),
so special is that it succeeds where so many have failed. Finally we
have a film that presents an honest, thorough excavation of Ali's
politics in the 1960s.
Siegel, perhaps because he has experience chronicling the often messy
movements of that era, is able to communicate Ali's journey of
rebellion against racism and war with nuance and without a hint of
condescension.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
OTHER FILMS have discussed Ali's allegiance to the Nation of Islam,
but I can't think of another film that delves as deeply into why a
separatist group like the NOI would be attractive to Ali. Siegel, always
off camera, interviews actual members of the NOI who were active in the
1960s to discuss what Ali's presence meant to their organization.
Other films have shown how Ali was a target of derision in the
mainstream press for joining the NOI and refusing to serve in Vietnam.
But I've never seen so much footage of people across the political
spectrum--from William Buckley to David Susskind--excoriating Ali in
televised settings with the Champ having to sit in a suit and seethe.
Other films have discussed how Ali was sentenced to five years for
evading the draft, a sentence that was eventually overturned by the
United States Supreme Court, but I've never seen it examined to such a
precise degree. This is the heart of Siegel's film, and it's explained
in great detail why the Supreme Court--that supposedly apolitical
body--desperately searched for a reason, no matter how paper thin, to
overturn his sentence.
Other films have discussed Ali's antiwar activism, but I've never
seen such a bounty of new footage of Ali expressing his antiwar feelings
in his own words. That's truly what made The Trials of Muhammad Ali impress itself upon me like a stiff left jab.
I like to consider myself someone who has studied Ali's life. But I'd
never laid eyes on most of what Siegel has unearthed. For example
Ali-o-philes know that when he was banned from boxing in 1968, he
starred in an extremely short-lived Broadway musical called Buck White. Actually seeing footage of his performance is alone worth the price of admission.
I do have criticisms of the film. Given the amount of time Siegel
devotes to the Nation of Islam, I wish he had discussed in greater
detail Ali's separation from Malcolm X when Malcolm left the NOI, as
well as the period in Ali's life in 1969 when the NOI suspended him from
membership, writing, "Mr. Muhammad Ali shall not be recognized with us
under the holy name Muhammad Ali. We will call him Cassius Clay."
Their reasons for such action are confusing to this day, and I would
have loved to see the implications of this in both the NOI and the
broader movement explored.*
But that nitpick is like complaining about the picture frame on a
genius work of art. This is a special film. It should be treasured by
anyone who cares about sports, politics, the 1960s or the vivacious,
loquacious, bodacious, Muhammad Ali. There are those I'm sure who will
always believe that no film could possibly do Ali and his era justice.
They should on principle see The Trials of Muhammad Ali, and then, humbled, find Bill Siegel and say his name.
* I was able to ask Mr. Siegel at a screening in New York why he
didn't unpack this part of Ali's life and he answered that it was
addressed but ended up, with a great deal else, on the cutting-room
floor. Now I'm giddily counting the days to the DVD release so I can see
all the extras.First published at TheNation.com.

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DARCY D= YOU MUST BELIEVE.STANDING UP FOR THE INNOCENT C.E.O
The United Kingdom resident champions causes of the voiceless, the powerless and the weak, particularly in North America. She campaigns for petitions on behalf of incarcerated human trafficking.